PHILADELPHIA (CBS) –– A group of labor unions representing Philadelphia’s building trades is asking Occupy Philadelphia to move off its Dilworth Plaza location so construction preparations can begin for the plaza’s planned renovation.

The Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council is formally asking the occupiers to move off Dilworth Plaza because, it says, its members need the work that the project would bring.

Pat Gillespie, business manager for the Building Trades Council, says that although his group is sympathetic to Occupy Philly’s cause, his members desperately need the work.

“These job opportunities these days are like hen’s teeth,” he tells KYW Newsradio, “so we are asking them to vacate that area and reconvene in another site that can be just as prominent, but give our members an opportunity for some jobs that they desperately need.”

Randy Quinn (below), with Occupy Philadelphia’s “Reasonable Solutions” committee, says most of the demonstrators are not opposed to moving the encampment to another location.

Story continues below photo…

(Randy Quinn, photographed near the "Occupy" site on Independence Mall. Credit: John McDevitt)

—–

“The decision on Friday to stay at Dilworth Plaza indefinitely and to resist eviction is not the will of the people,” he told KYW Newsradio this morning. “The will of the people, as stated by the petition that was circulated online and in physical form, states that the people — over 500 of them — would like to relocate.”

But there is still no apparent consensus on relocation as “Occupy Philadelphia” moves into its 42nd day.

Reported by John McDevitt, KYW Newsradio 1060

Top Content On CBSPhilly

John McDevitt has been a reporter and editor at KYW Newsradio 1060 since April of 1999, but he’s been in the all-news family for more than a decade.
McDevitt grew up in Drexel Hill (Delaware County), graduating from Monsignor Bonner High School,...

One Comment

Let’s all play by the same rules. Those who oppose over-paying of tax dollars to no-bid contracts should ‘occupy’ spaces where these no-bid tax paying contracts are scheduled to begin work. If government will not move the ‘occupy’ movement from harming local businesses, than they cannot move us from also unlawful occupation of public space.